Game of Thrones – Season Four, Episode Three

got4And we’re back with another backlogged episode of Game of Thrones! As expected, the third episode of the season quickly picked up after the events of the “Purple Wedding”, following the escape of Sansa from King’s Landing, Tyrion’s arrest for Joffrey’s murder, and the Lannisters and Tyrells trying to pick up the pieces of their alliance. At the same time, we got to hear from some other threads characters, such as Arya and Sandor as they continue across the Riverlands, and Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch at the Wall.

But arguably, the most important thing to come out of this episode was Danaery’s and her long-awaited confrontation with the city of Mereen, the last great city of Slaver’s Bay. This was the highlight of the episode, which is why it bears the name…

Breaker of Chains:
GOT4_3_1The episode opens on the aftermath of the wedding, with Cersei ordering Tyrion’s arrest and that Sansa be found. She, meanwhile is ferried to the coast by Ser Dontos, who puts her on a small boat and rows her out to meet a larger vessel. Once on board, she finds Petyr Baelish waiting for her, and Ser Dontos is shot with a crossbow and killed. He reveals to her that her rescue was entirely his plan, and Ser Dontos his agent, and that they are now sailing for his home.

In the Grand Sept, Joffrey’s body is arrayed and Tommen, Cersei and Tywin stand over it. Tywin queries Tommen over what kind of king he will be now that his brother is dead. He teaches him that holiness, justice and strength – as epitomized by Baelor, Orys I, and Robert – must take a backseat to wisdom, which his brother lacked and which led to his death. He also councils him to marry soon so he can father an heir before long.

GOT4_3_2Jaime enters after and orders everyone leave him and Cersei alone with Joffrey’s body. Cersei accuses Tyrion of murdering their son and demands his death, but Jaime refuses to believe it. She tries to send him away, but Jaime forces himself on her on the Sept floor. Further north, Arya and Sandor are still on their way to the Eyrie, are discovered by a local land owner, and Arya talks them into getting room and board for the night.

Over dinner, the land owner tries to convince Sandor to stay around, claiming that Frey banner men are raiding all across the land and they are in need of protection. Sandor accepts, but in the morning, Arya finds that he’s assaulted the man and stolen his silver, and tells Arya they are leaving again. She calls him many names, but Sandor insists that the family won’t survive the winter and she needs to learn from her family’s fate that the world is a cruel place.

got4_3_5At the Wall, Sam and Gilly are settling back in. He urges her to go to Mole’s Town for her own safety, but she is hurt to think that he is sending her away. Once there, Sam arranges for her to work in the brothel as a maid and promises to come visit. On Dragonstone, Stannis tells Davos of Joffrey’s death and demands that they press his claim. Short of men and funds, Davos suggests they recruit the Golden Company, and decides to writes to the Iron Bank of Bravos to implore them for gold.

South of the Wall, the Wildling party wipes out a small village and Styr spares one boy, telling him to go to the Wall and inform them of their attack. At Castle Black, they debate what to do, and they agree that their main problem is stopping Mance’s army and that they must shore up the wall and its defenses. More survivors arrive from Craster’s Keep, and Jon orders that they ride there to kill the mutineers, who he fears will tell Mance of their true numbers once they are captured.

GOT4_3_6In King’s Landing, Tywin confronts Prince Oberyn about Joffrey’s murder. He naturally denies any involvement, and asks that he be allowed to meet the Mountain. Tywin agrees, but asks that in exchange, Oberyn act as one of Tyrion’s judges, sit on the Small Council, and bring Dorne back into the Seven Kingdoms, so that they may stands against all the unresolved threats to the Realm. In the dungeons, Pod meets Tyrion and tells him of his impending trial. Tyrion warns him to get out of King’s Landing and says his goodbyes.

In Essos, Daenerys and her army arrive at Mereen at last and are met by a champion of Mereen. Grey Worm, Ser Mormont and Ser Selmy and Daario all volunteer, and Daenerys decides to send him he claims to be the least indispensable. Daario confronts him on foot, and when the champion charges, he takes down his horse with a thrown dagger and then slices his throat before he can recover. Returning the champions opening gesture, he then urinates in front of the crowd standing on the walls.

GOT4_mereenDaenerys then addresses the slaves of Mereen, telling them she has come to free them from their masters. She then has her catapults lob cases filled with broken chains and slave collars from Astapor and Yunkai into the city, which then break and are taken and inspected by the slaves. One slave picks up a broken collar, similar to the one he wears, and looks over his shoulder at a fearful master.

All in all, this was a pretty good episode, which provided some pacing and build-up after the previous week’s “Purple Wedding” shocker. Though I must admit, I was a bit disappointed with the climax and how they bit it short. After all this time marching towards Mereen, I had hoped that they would at least show a little bit of the of the siege. However, it is clear that we will have to wait until the next episode to see all that. And there were the numerous changes they made this week from the text that sort of stuck out for me as well.

First off, Jaime never raped Cersei inside the Sept while Joffrey’s corpse lay before them. It was when he returned to King’s Landing, before the wedding, that they had consensual relations. There was none of this vindictive “you took too long” crap and she was naturally very happy to see him. That whole seen seemed odd and distasteful to me, and apparently it was quite controversial with audiences in general. One has to wonder why they did it.

Second, Jon Snow never proposed riding to Craster’s Keep in the books, and no additional survivors made it back from the north aside from him, Sam and Gilly. Given that they were expecting an impending attack from Mance north of the Wall, and they had the raiding party coming up from the south, leaving Castle Black was the last thing they could afford to do. What’s more, no one was believed to have survived up there, so there really was no point to it.

Third, when they reached Mereen, the confrontation was between the Mereenese champion and Strong Belwas, a former gladiator who had been travelling with Selmy. Daario was not the one to kill the champion, but since they’ve chosen to write Belwas out, they had to do a substitution. Also, the fight was short and anticlimactic compared to what happened in the book. It was here that Belwas, a rotund and heavy-set guy, impressed Daenerys and the others by outmaneuvering the man on horseback and slaying him with his arakh sword.

Which brings me to another point that is going to be relevant come next week. In addition to Selmy having Belwas as a traveling companion when he first met Daenerys in Qarth, he was also operating under the assumed identity of Aristan Whitebeard. After he and Belwas saved Daenerys from an assassination attempt in Qarth, she rewarded them by accepting them as her companions. It was only upon their arrival at Mereen that she learned the truth of his identity, which he kept secret since he was in the service of King Robert (her sworn enemy).

This played in an important role in what came next, but more on that in next episode’s review. While I am always likely to gripe about changes made, I did still enjoy this installment and have noted that many of their more profound changes in the past did work out in the end. So I plan to give them the benefit of the doubt as I move onto the fourth and latest episode of the season. A siege awaits, and plenty more intrigue and action on all the other fronts!